James Ballard, S.F. union organizer

Published 4:00 am, Friday, June 11, 1999

James Ballard, president of the San Francisco Federation of Teachers for 17 years and architect of collective bargaining for The City's teachers, died Thursday. He was 75.

Mr. Ballard, who had suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease - since 1992, died at his San Francisco home.

"Jim Ballard was an inspiration to everyone across the labor movement," said Walter Johnson, secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council.

Mr. Ballard, born and reared in Louisville, Ky., hit his professional stride as a labor leader in 1968, when he was elected president of the teachers federation. Earlier, he had taught mathematics at Jefferson High School for five years and worked as an organizer for the United Auto Workers in Chicago.

He was a graduate of San Francisco State University and a veteran of Navy service during World War II who took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

Mr. Ballard was an energetic and combative organizer. He led the teachers union in a 1968 strike, before it had a contract with the district, and in 1979 led a strike that tied up The City's schools for six weeks.

Milton Reiterman, who as the school district's deputy superintendent was Mr. Ballard's adversary during the strike, later remarked, "God, he was a worthy opponent. Not only did I respect him when negotiating on the other side of the table with him, but we owe him a debt of gratitude."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who worked with Mr. Ballard when she was mayor of San Francisco, recalled him as "a tireless, energetic and forceful advocate for teachers."

San Francisco teacher Louisa Ezquerro, who was among the first teachers to be organized by Mr. Ballard, said "He was a teacher in the real sense of the word and my leader when I was beginning to understand that if I was going to be a professional I had to stand up for my rights and my profession. That's what I learned from Jim from the get-go," she said.

Mr. Ballard retired from his union post in 1984 and returned to teaching mathematics at Jefferson High School.

"I always thought that was absolutely noble and true to what Jim was," Ezquerro said. "It was very important to him to be able to go back to that classroom."

Attorney David Clisham, a teacher and staffer for the teachers union during Mr. Ballard's tenure, said that his influence extended beyond San Francisco. "What Jim brought to the public schools and indirectly to the whole state of California was a movement to collective bargaining for teachers," he said.

Kent Mitchell, president of United Educators of San Francisco, said he remembers Mr. Ballard for "his incredible presence, his incredible speaking ability, his ability to articulate the issues and for his incredible leadership."

Mr. Ballard's wife, Marcy Dunne Ballard, said she believes that her husband will be remembered as "an organizer's organizer . . . Jim had the leadership capacity to persuade and inspire people to act on their own behalf, and that's what unions are about anyhow," she said.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Ballard is survived by a son, Mark, of Sebastopol; a daughter, Tina Ballard Keiser of Northfield, Minn.; and, stepchildren Nancy DeAmicis of Petaluma and David Dunne DeAmicis of Sunnyvale.

The family asks that contributions in Mr. Ballard's name be made to the Jim Ballard Support Committee at the United Educators of San Francisco office at 655 14th St. A scholarship is being established in his name.

Funeral services will be private and by invitation only. A memorial service is planned in September, Mrs. Ballard said.&lt;